Double Bass pre-amp suggestion? :)

[shwashwa]

Miguel.
If your only using a pick up then the Pro Platinum is very nice, though cost more than FDeck's HPF Pre amp. The Headway EDB-1 is very nice but again it costs 6x's what the HPF Pre costs. If you're not flush with cash or using a microphone in combination you probably don't need it. However, it's got a incredibly well voiced pre amp and dramatically improves the sound of any pickup that's run into it.

Ric

i acutally think that the preamp on the headway isnt voiced well for the double bass at all. if you look at the eq points they're not at all what are usually usefull for bass instruments. its more of an all purpose acoustic instrument preamp. the bass control is centered at 120, and the low mid at 590, and the mid at 900. that doesnt give you any control over the vital low mid frequencies that are so important to upright bass, the 200-300 range. what they lable as low mid is usually considered by most to be mid or even upper mid. its a neat little blender if you like to use a mic and pickup, but as far as sound goes, i much prefer the radial PZ pre. it has a 2 position low cut filter, sweepable mids, and 2 10 meg ohm inputs, and to my ears, sounds much better. i kind of think my fishman platinum pro sounds as good as the headway or better, but the eq points are much more useful for bass, so you'll have more control, but its only one channel and the output level is much lower compared to the radial and headway. i wanted to like the headway, but after playing with it for a while it just sits its box, or sometimes ill use it as a mic preamp when making some home recordings.
if you have a decent EQ section on your amp, just get fdeck's preamp in order to match impedances (this will make a huge difference in your tone) and use the preamp on your amp. really, the only problem with most electric bass amps is that the imput impedance isnt suitable for a piezo pickup, but fdeck's preamp solves that problem rather inexpensively.

 

[drurb]

i acutally think that the preamp on the headway isnt voiced well for the double bass at all. if you look at the eq points they're not at all what are usually usefull for bass instruments. its more of an all purpose acoustic instrument preamp. the bass control is centered at 120, and the low mid at 590, and the mid at 900. that doesnt give you any control over the vital low mid frequencies that are so important to upright bass, the 200-300 range. what they lable as low mid is usually considered by most to be mid or even upper mid. its a neat little blender if you like to use a mic and pickup, but as far as sound goes, i much prefer the radial PZ pre. it has a 2 position low cut filter, sweepable mids, and 2 10 meg ohm inputs, and to my ears, sounds much better. i kind of think my fishman platinum pro sounds as good as the headway or better, but the eq points are much more useful for bass, so you'll have more control, but its only one channel and the output level is much lower compared to the radial and headway. i wanted to like the headway, but after playing with it for a while it just sits its box, or sometimes ill use it as a mic preamp when making some home recordings.
if you have a decent EQ section on your amp, just get fdeck's preamp in order to match impedances (this will make a huge difference in your tone) and use the preamp on your amp. really, the only problem with most electric bass amps is that the imput impedance isnt suitable for a piezo pickup, but fdeck's preamp solves that problem rather inexpensively.

Just a few thoughts. "Voicing" usually refers to an intentional skewing of the frequency response to effect a certain sound. I've posted before how I don't really care for "voiced" pre-amps because I prefer to have a pre-amp with a flat response and use the tone-shaping controls as I see fit. As for the Headway, I have no personal experience with it. If setting the controls flat produces an essentially flat response, then it is not voiced. The center frequencies of the controls you specified do, in fact, correspond to the typical use of the labels you mentioned. That is, 590 Hz would, indeed, be "low-mid" while 1-2 kHz would be "mid." That's if you're considering the entire audio spectrum. If you're considering only the range of frequencies of the bass, then that would be different but I'm not aware of any amp manufacturer labeling tone controls re the bass. In fact, I wouldn't want that. Regardless of the instrument for which an amp is intended, when I see "mid," I want that to affect frequencies in the 1-2 kHz region.

I certainly agree about fdeck's beautiful little "unvoiced" pre-amp!

 

[hensonbass]

I happen to own and utilize all three preamps - Headway, Radial Pz-pre, and just recently, the Fdeck. For my taste I think the Headway has the most useful eq section in getting rid of bad frequencies on MY BASS. I tend to pull out a lot of bass and some low mid on the Headway to combine my Full-circle and Vektor pickups. It seems to do this in a much more natural sounding way than the PZ-PRE. I'm also experimenting with the Fdeck in this set up to roll off the excessive sub-low end off the Full-Circle pickup before it hits the Headway pre with the Vektor.

I use the Radial to then to combine the Headway signal with a Biesele magnetic pickup and have use of these features:

1. Independent volume control of two channels (like the Headway)
2. A clean DI out (pre-EQ)
3. Tuner out
4. A mute foot switch
5. An effect loop or boost w/ foot switch control

Don't get me wrong, the Radial has a good EQ section, but it never made my basses sound that much better. However, when I came upon the Headway, those EQ controls made a whole lot of musical sense to my ears and my bass. It seemed to eliminate much of the problem frequencies.

All this for a local jazz gig or a small singer-songwriter club show? Not needed. But I'm amplifying my bass through very big sound systems at theaters, outdoor stages and large clubs anywhere from 100 to 105 decibels. Loud for a double bass. You have to be able to control your tone very specifically to get the sound heard through a mix with no feedback or rumble.

My suggestion: If you already have an amp with an eq section that you like then a Fdeck preamp is probably all you'll need. If you are going to be plugging into house backline amps and PA systems then I would strongly consider the Headway. If you need a general all purpose two channel preamp/DI then go with a Radial PZ-pre.

 

[B String]

Just wondering if your Full Circle is faced up towards the bridge or down at the body. You say you get a lot of lows from the Full Circle. That usually happens when the pickup is facing the body.

 

[hensonbass]

Just wondering if your Full Circle is faced up towards the bridge or down at the body. You say you get a lot of lows from the Full Circle. That usually happens when the pickup is facing the body.

And you are correct. It does face the down towards the body. The guy who sold me the bass had it installed that way. I would probably have this reversed if it was my the only pickup I use in my setup.

So far it seems to blend really nice with the Vektor. I use the Vektor for the tonal character of the bass and then judiciously blend in the Full Circle for the piezo beefiness and note fundamental. I think if the FC had more mid and hi freq content it might fight and/or cancel out the Vektor sound.

 

[Gearhead43]

I'll throw in my support for fdeck's HPF-Pre. I got it about two years ago when I first started on upright, and I have no need or desire to go for any of the more expensive ones. It's really the best $50 I've ever spent.

+1 also - The HPF-Pre does exactly what I need it to do without coloring the sound too much. I love the natural tone of my Gallien Krueger preamp for DB, so the little pre lets that shine through.